Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

[consultmybooks]

[The voice that comes over the journal sounds...decidedly anxious. Certainly unhappy, confused, and generally out of his element. Giles has never done well under such circumstances, never done well with sudden changes of environs, especially when that change was a dark, dingy back room of a crumbling mansion to a cozy little village in the bright, if cold, sunlight.]

Right. This is, um, certainly new. Well done. Pleasant looking and, at the least, not outwardly mad.

I, um, I c-can't say that I see why you're bothering, of course. You've, y-you've got what you want. If you aren't going to let me go, then I'm sure you could think of...s-something else, at least.

I can wait. I, um, I h-have nothing but time, now.

[Anyone wandering by Good Spirits...well, the New Feather stuck on the roof might catch your eye. He's eyeing the drop to the ground with some wariness, but all the windows are closed with the bar traffic slowed down by the early afternoon. Without assistance, he will just try and fall, and with his new wings that will hurt a very great deal. By then, however, he'll have discovered that the telephone that just happens to look like a book has a map attached, and a guide, and from there he'll set about wandering about the plaza.

Maps are logical, reasonable, rational things. It seems to even match up to his general environs. It's a positive sign, although it's a positive sign pointing to a solution possibly even more insane than the idea that Drusilla is still tormenting him.]

Player Name: Hicku/Hickumu
Are you new?: N
Character Name: Rupert Giles
Character Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 2)

Comments

[Voice]

[shadedsunlight]

[There's the sound of fluttering pages as Ginia drops the book in pure surprise, the camera showing nothing but the ground for a few seconds. He's back. He's really back. It's a voice she'd never not recognize, no matter what, and seconds trickle into minutes as she tries to find her own voice.

She swallows. Swallows again. Chews on her lip and tries to calm all the emotions she's locked away for the last few weeks.

Finally, she picks up her journal.]

...Rupert?

Re: [Voice]

[consultmybooks]

[It's not a familiar voice. It's not Drusilla's voice.

But that's nothing new. He sighs, looking around for any other signs of life and finding none. The book beside him is, for the moment, ignored.]

Yes? I'm, I-I'm still here. Where, um, where you d-decided to leave me.

[Voice]

[shadedsunlight]

[Fear fills her. There's no recognition, in her voice, in the place, there's nothing there. Oh god. Still, she pushes on. Maybe her voice wasn't clear, maybe it was too quiet, maybe, maybe...]

Rupert? G-Giles? It's me. Ginia.

Re: [Voice]

[consultmybooks]

[Silence greets her for several seconds more. Giles thinks on the name, wonders where he'd heard it, wonders where Drusilla might have pulled it out from. Perhaps it's not his, perhaps its hers', someone she knew in her long ago human life before Angel drove her mad. Perhaps it's just a name she liked the sound of.

His wings, aching and sore, stretch and flutter almost of their own accord. They're impossibly sensitive, he's figured that much out in the last twenty minutes or so. But for just an instant, Giles thinks he remembers the feeling of the feathers being touched, stroked, carressed with gentleness and love...

But it's a sense memory, if that, and he remembers nothing more. If anything, the mere thought makes him think of what had just transpired, and Giles gives a shiver of revulsion and shame. He knows he shouldn't say anything more, but...well, what else does he have to lose? Who else can he betray worse than he already has.]

Th-That's...a, um, a-a very nice name.

It's, um, n-nice to meet you, Ginia.

[Voice]

[shadedsunlight]

[There's only silence. He's forgotten. Oh god, he's forgotten. It's a situation she's considered before, she's thought about everything she would do if that time ever came, and here it is now.

And she can't think of any of them. All she can think of is Helios, Grune, how they'll react to him not remembering them. Buffy has it easy, they at least know each other and she can ease him into everything.

"Find Buffy. She'll tell you everything."

She almost wants to say that, close the journal and wait it all out, but she could never do that. Not to anyone, especially not Giles. The man she tirelessly patrolled for every night, holding onto the tiny flame of hope the Malnosso would bring him back. The man she still loved with every broken fiber of her being. She couldn't do that to him, not her lover, her best friend.

It still takes her awhile to find her voice again, to temper down all her sadness and anger.]

Thank you. Rupert is a nice name too. Exceptionally strong.

Um... where are you right now?

in b4 all the sads and feels

[folklorist]

[ Helios is just coming out of the bakery with a bag of cookies when he pauses hearing everything over the journal. He does not expect to hear or see who he thinks it is speaking over the journals. Even though he's in town he has yet to spot the other. But his surprise is no less abated. It was always possible, yes, and it was always something he could count on to occur. People comeback this is Giles' second time...but something was very, very amiss. ]

Giles... [ His voice sounds disbelieving and Helios' stomach drops at the initial confusion in Giles' entry. ] You're back.

[consultmybooks]

Back?

[What an odd thing to say. But, well, perhaps Drusilla is simply being her usual mad self. Perhaps she's frustrated that he's refusing to succumb to her influences a second time.

Really, who can understand mad vampires?]

I'm, I-I'm afraid you're, you're mistaken. I don't know this place. [With slightly more certainty, even if it is an effort to muster.] I d-don't know any place where books speak and wings are stuck on your back.

[folklorist]

[ It hits Helios like a ton of bricks. He doesn't remember. There are several long seconds where Helios simply stares. It's like one of his worst nightmares becoming a reality. No. No. This couldn't be happening.

His voice is significantly lower. ] It's called Luceti. Y-You...you really don't remember? [ This has to be some kind of sick joke. No. Giles wouldn't do that, not ever. Stupid question but it's one born of fear and complete loss as to what to do. He's not sure whether he wants to be upset or not. ]

Where, ah, where are you? It's f-far too c-cold out to be outside for-for very long.

[consultmybooks]

[Giles refuses to let himself be moved by the evident pain in Helios' voice. It isn't real. None of this is. It's just...torment added on top of torment until they tire of him, even if he can't see the end of it yet.]

...yes, it would, um, i-it would certainly feel that way, wouldn't it?

[A beat.] You're, um, talking through this book as well, then?

/casually effs work

[lostinmyway]

[There's a woman walking past Good Spirits with a basket on her arm. She's quite possibly one of the most beautiful women Giles has ever seen or ever will see--even with the green hair. The wind catches her long veil, drawing the eye to her. Her happy humming draws the ear.

All in all, she seems rather unlike the sort of person a vampire would create for purposes of torture.

Call out to her?]

Mwahahaha. Thank you for your assistance. /bows

[consultmybooks]

[She is beautiful. She is beautiful and bright and evidently happy. Giles catches himself just watching her exist for a second or two without really knowing why.

But Drusilla can call up all sorts of pain disguised as things that shouldn't hurt. You'll have to pardon him if he's still rather mistrustful, Grune.

Even Grune, however, might notice the impact a few steps later, however, of a man falling the last few feet to the ground after losing his foothold on a windowsill. At that point? Well, he might ask for help.]

Oh, no, thank YOU.

[lostinmyway]

[Grune does hear that sound, and she turns without any evident surprise at its suddenness or hurry.

...The basket slips from her arm and tumbles along the ground, spilling packet after packet of daisy seeds.]

Giles!

[His name is gasped out, spoken as though it were the most precious syllable in any language. She closes the distance between them at an outright run, and hopefully he wasn't too hurt by his fall, because she drops to her knees and flings her arms around him as best she can.]

Giles! You're back!

/bows Might as well test out the idea first. I do apologize for the painfulness, though.

[consultmybooks]

[...was not expecting that.

Giles absolutely freezes when Grune hugs him, largely because his mind goes blank and he finds himself without any clue of how to react. He wants to respond to such an inherently warm gesture just because of what's come before, and he almost, almost succumbs again.

...no. Not again. Even if he has nothing left. But even so, the shock of being suddenly hugged like this leaves Giles quite dazed.]

H-Hello.

[Voice]

[geniustheveil]

[Ami stares in absolute shock before grabbing the journal.]

Giles! Giles where are you?!

Re: [Voice]

[consultmybooks]

I'm on a roof. If you'd like further elaboration, I'm afraid I can't help you.

[He probably could, of course, but...given everything that's happened up until now, Giles isn't terribly inclined to.]

N-Not that it matters...

[Voice]

[geniustheveil]

Of course it matters! I'll come help you. Can you tell me anything about the buildings nearby? I should be able to recognize them.

(ooc: also, hi! been trying to get in touch with you for awhile to say hi and ask about the letter. <3 and ping just to make sure the tag is ok...?)

Re: [Voice]

[consultmybooks]

((ooc: A grand total of three people have gotten their letters so far. I don't meant to exclude anyone. I dropped just in time for things to get even busier, which unfortunately is why I dropped. A weekend that I had planned to spend writing them was spent asleep. Ask me again on Sunday. I appreciate your patience.))

[Giles sounds decidedly irritated, at this insistence.] You put me somewhere you don't even know? Well, that's remarkably helpful. Probably shouldn't have expected anything less.

How did I miss this... /fails

[semper_cogitans]

[...

... Giles.

It's Giles. It's Giles and... the tangle of emotions in Robert's chest is too intense for anything but simple reaction. He needs to do something - anything - and even if the words disturb him - "certainly new"? - there's nothing Giles could say that would drive him away.

Or is there?]

... G-Giles...

... I... I hoped you would r-return, but... [He trails off, softly. Is something wrong?]

Yes. By a whole ten hours. Clearly, this is an unforgivable offense ;)

[consultmybooks]

[Lots of things are wrong. Everything is wrong. Pulling himself back together feels like a sheer impossibility, after what he's just come from.

So pardon him if he sounds a bit short, Robert.]

Oh, no. Everything is, i-is absolutely fine. I'm perfectly comfortable here. N-No need to, um, change a thing.

Then I missed this because I failed to track it. /BEST

[semper_cogitans]

[As if Robert could tell...

... Okay, he knows Giles well enough that this is one of the few times he can tell.]

... I... I a-apologize, I... w-will help you immediately, if... if you need it...

king of the placeholders [ voice ]

[herotypical]

G-Giles.

[ surprise. hurt. fireworks of all different emotional colours; love and grief and hope and grey grey grey confusion. all packed into one short name.

all said like a spoken talisman. ]

Your place, consider it held. /bows [ voice ]

[consultmybooks]

[...and that was the second to last voice he wanted to hear right now.

High up on the roof, over the bar he very rarely ever frequented because, from the beginning, it was 'her' place, Giles feels a deep cold settle into his chest that has nothing to do with the last of winter.

Quiet for several long seconds, and then:]

Well. That's...impressively, um...unfair.

Don't see why you're wasting the effort, of course.

[herotypical]

I-It's not a waste. How could you say that?

[ somehow, that's all she could snag onto. everything else was too strange and unexpected. unfair? who was he to talk about unfair?

she'd just...

her mourning...

buffy had been so close to acceptance. ]

[consultmybooks]

Of course it is. I've already told you everything I can.

[In the voice of a man suddenly very tired:] You might as well just, um, l-let me speak with Jenny again.

[The idea of even seeing Buffy again is one that Giles has refused to allow himself to entertain. This just makes a bad nightmare so much worse.]

[Action]

[blessedbyfarore]

[Also in the plaza: a long-eared teenage(...ish, he's pushing twenty) boy in a green jacket, sitting on the edge of the fountain, playing the guitar. The journal is closed and the wind going the wrong direction for him to hear Giles speaking, but he'll definitely take notice when he hears someone take a very rapid trip in a generally downwards direction.]

[Don't mind the wide-eyed staring in astonishment before he breaks into a huge grin.] ...Giles? You're back!